{"id":21630,"date":"2023-11-30T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=21630"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:11:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:11:05","slug":"female-athlete-health-in-focus-why-a-pelvic-health-physio-could-help-transform-your-performance","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/female-athlete-health-in-focus-why-a-pelvic-health-physio-could-help-transform-your-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Female Athlete Health in Focus: Why a Pelvic Health Physio Could Help Transform your Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 30 Nov 2023 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Female Athlete Health in Focus: Why a Pelvic Health Physio Could Help Transform your Performance<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Human Performance<\/a>, Premium<\/a> <\/div>\n
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https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/female-athlete-health-in-focus-why-a-pelvic-health-physio-could-help-transform-your-performance\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n\n\n
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Pelvic health physiotherapist Emma Brockwell outlines this \u2018hidden health\u2019 discipline that remains largely underserved in elite sport.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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A Human Performance article brought you by our Main Partners<\/p>\n

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By John Portch<\/h6>\n
Athletes and coaches take note: pelvic floor dysfunction is not restricted to the perinatal or older population.<\/h6>\n

Symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction in girls and women of all ages can include issues with urinary leakage, urgency and frequency, feelings of incontinence, and vaginal heaviness.<\/p>\n

These examples were cited by pelvic health physiotherapist Emma Brockwell onstage at Leaders Meet: Driving Step Change in Female High Performance at Manchester\u2019s Etihad Stadium in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese symptoms often don\u2019t cause a woman pain but they may have a huge impact on their physical and mental health,\u201d said Brockwell, who has worked with athletes at teams including Chelsea Women and Harlequins Women. She also co-hosts the women\u2019s health-focused At Your Cervix<\/em> podcast with fellow pelvic floor physiotherapist Gr\u00e1inne Donnelly.<\/p>\n

She spoke onstage alongside Harlequins\u2019 Women\u2019s Club Doctor, Amal Hassan<\/a>, and Dr Nicola Brown<\/a>, Associate Professor in Women\u2019s Health at St Mary\u2019s University in London, in front of an audience of Leaders Performance Institute members.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think pelvic floor issues are likely to be affecting a female athlete\u2019s performance as well,\u201d added Brockwell. \u201cThe reality is that female athletes carrying out strenuous activity are probably three times more likely to experience these dysfunctions than someone who is less active of her age.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s just recognising that these symptoms occur, breaking down the stigma and taboo that exists around this because we\u2019re talking about the pelvis, we\u2019re talking about the vulva, the vagina. These words are still unbelievably taboo, controversial \u2013 women don\u2019t like to talk about them, men don\u2019t like to talk about them \u2013 but it\u2019s about educating every one of us that we should be using these words and discussing these symptoms and, I guess, normalising the conversation and allowing it to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this article, we explore Brockwell\u2019s work with female athletes and the steps all teams can take to support their women and girl athletes.<\/p>\n

Note: Brockwell\u2019s responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.<\/p>\n

On her physiotherapy practice\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

A pelvic health physiotherapist is just a sub-specialist of a musculoskeletal physiotherapist. So we still screen a woman as you would through a musculoskeletal screening, we look at the whole body but we would typically offer any female athlete or woman a vaginal examination as well. And through that level of internal and external assessment we determine if there are any pelvic health issues. Pelvic health is kind of a hidden health amongst musculoskeletal physiotherapy. In our training we don\u2019t even have much pelvic health training. It\u2019s a post-grad form of training, but it\u2019s really important to recognise the pelvis, the pelvic floor, integrates into the hip, into the back, into the abdominal wall and therefore perhaps with other musculoskeletal issues that might be lumbar, pelvic pain, hip pain, groin pain. Is it something that\u2019s potentially contributing to some of these musculoskeletal conditions and therefore should we be screening pelvic health just to help eliminate some of the potential differential diagnoses of these musculoskeletal issues? It is about opening our eyes but also using this sort of specialism, a musculoskeletal physio, to hopefully make a difference to female health.<\/p>\n

The current \u2018gold standard\u2019 in pelvic health physiotherapy\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pelvic health is still quite misunderstood. People aren\u2019t aware that we exist, that pelvic floor conditions can be treated. Ultimately gold standard has to be education at the moment because a gold standard doesn\u2019t exist at the moment. Education is key, collaboration, talking to other healthcare professionals and coaches within the team [at Harlequins] to let them know what I do; and then screening at the moment is ideal because you don\u2019t know what you don\u2019t know. A lot of the players don\u2019t know what they don\u2019t know; the players are asking these questions. So screening is ultimately key. And then getting a consultant in, like me, to then offer one-to-one treatment, if players want to be treated.<\/p>\n

What teams with fewer resources can do to support their athletes\u2019 pelvic floor health\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are apps and you can absolutely still screen and refer into a GP; and the GP can certainly refer into the pelvic health physio system within the NHS or privately. The resources are there and, if I give you an example, the stats show that 84 percent of women who suffer from stress urinary incontinence, if they see a pelvic health physiotherapist, they will improve. So we are effective, it\u2019s just knowing that we exist. And if you can\u2019t access us for one reason or another then use an app like the Squeezy app, the NHS resources. I quite often signpost people to the AIS [Australian Institute of Sport] resources because they\u2019ve got some great educational tools that you can share with players and you can look at yourself and they offer various videos on how to do pelvic floor exercises, blood screening, bladder diaries. All of these things are really helpful if resources are scarce. But I think the key is collaboration, having discussions; and touching base with me and I can signpost you to pelvic health physios in your areas.<\/p>\n

On helping perinatal athletes\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s certainly my passion area and that\u2019s where you would recognise a pelvic health physiotherapist coming into their own. But what we should be thinking of is how we prevent pelvic floor issues occurring and we can very much prevent the majority of pelvic floor issues occurring before a woman is pregnant. But even when they do fall pregnant, being able to prepare their system for the inevitable changes that the body is going through in childbirth, and then the post-partum recovery. I don\u2019t want to mythologise [this phase] as an injury because it\u2019s not, but it is important to recognise that it needs as much time, thought, care and preparation as any injury that these female athletes are going to experience. And we\u2019ve seen first-hand, if you prepare a woman during her pregnancy and really educate her about what to expect, it makes their post-partum journey so much more manageable and so much easier. I firmly believe that if we offer women this element of rehabilitation, if you like, I think they can return to their sport really stronger than ever before. I think it\u2019s just about \u2013 I keep saying it \u2013 collaboration and working with other people and ensuring that you\u2019re bringing in these specialisms to help support their journeys.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n

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